A water tank in Texas overflowed after a cyber attack in January, and a new report is linking the incident to hackers backed by the Russian government.
On Jan. 18, city officials in Muleshoe were alerted to an overflowing water tank. When they checked it out, they learned that a software hack had caused a system malfunction, according to City Manager Ramon Sanchez. Hackers also targeted nearby water systems in Abernathy and Hale Center but were unsuccessful — Hale Center had taken its systems offline when officials there found out about the Muleshoe hack, MyPlainview reported.
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Source: Government Technology
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